Life Before FF7...

Life Before FF7...

The PS1 had a Golden Age of original RPG's. Have you ever heard of Xenogears? Mech story telling and it's dark religous overtones made it a instant classic to all that played it. The orignal team split up to do independent stuff. Xenosaga was supposed to be one in part of a 5 chapter series but, ended up falling at the waist side! The original Xenogears also was the first time real anime cut scenes where made for the storytelling! Forget the pre rendered stuff, full 3-D maps where you could control the camera as well as fighting in and out of gears. Port this one if you never experience it! 10 out of 10!Based on the japanese movie of the same name, Parasite Eve is like a survival horror with many RPG elements, but the movement in the various scenarios was free. It also was the first game to come with the FF7 demo! Eva was a great heroine, far better than Lora Croft! Has SquareEnix forgotten about her? 6 out of 10! Vagrant Story, another awesome RPG that deserves a next generation sequel! First, the storytelling is not in standard fare but, more of a live action comic book! Very awesome! All that is missing is live voices, Maybe in a sequel? 9 out of 10!

One of the more often underrated aspects of the game (and hidden to most) is the subtle connection to Yasumi Matsuno's other works (such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII), and indeed, the stories, while different in scale and focus, do hold some similarities in themes and stylistic presentation. The most significant connection, however, is the quote from an "A. J. Durai" that appears at the very beginning of Vagrant Story; this same Durai is the narrator in the frame story of Final Fantasy Tactics and the descendant of another character who participated in that game's story. Additionally, many of the items that can be found in the game (particularly the necklaces and gems), have names which allude to some of the key characters of Final Fantasy Tactics, e.g. "Agrias's Balm".

A few references to Vagrant Story appears in Final Fantasy XII; e.g. one "clan rank" the player character party can earn is 'Riskbreaker', and the calendar of Final Fantasy XII follows that of Old Valendian, the country mentioned in the story. Additionally, a holy site of the Kiltea religion that was dominant in Lea Monde is present in Final Fantasy XII, complete with the rood symbol.

Comments (1)

I remeber...

the first time I played xenogears was the demo version, then my brother got the real version. I like the regular battle system better than the gears battle system, the animation scenes were hot but what I really liked about the game was the main characters dark side. I forgot his name, but I like when a main character has a whole other side to themselves, It's makes the story even better. I still hate the fact that the xenosagas already happened, I just hate prequels, but I still play them anyway.

Parasite eve was the first rpg game I ever beat for the PS1. What I really got me about the game was the story, and how the plot got better as you progress thru the game.